Kissed by a Star
by LadyJaneRedfern
Summary: CompleteA bored vampire decided to try human high school to find himself a life, only ends up discovering his soulmate, and must confront a past he thought he'd dealt with in order to keep her.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Kissed by a Star  
Authors: Debbie and Jane  
Email: bloodstainedice@yahoo.co.uk  
Spoilers: Night World  
Disclaimers: Night World, all its ideas and characters belong to LJ Smith, we're just borrowing it for fun.   
Rating: 15  
Summary: A bored vampire decided to try human high school to find himself a life, only ends up discovering his soulmate, and must confront a past he thought he'd dealt with in order to keep her.  
Notes: feedback would be loved.  
  
Part 1.  
  
The feeling was an awkward one and Sarah had no idea what it was, or meant, mainly because she had never experienced it before. It was an odd mixture of fear and anticipation, hitting her after she'd woken when the alarm clock had blasted her ears off.  
  
Like that odd feeling you have when you've just woken from a dream, or think you have, then ten minutes later you wake up for real, confused and not sure if you're in reality or not.  
  
She dragged herself up, hoping a hot shower would make her feel better. No improvement. Getting dressed and going through her morning routine Sarah still felt detached from the world. It was creepy. What had happened between now and last night that made her feel so different?  
  
She had come home from school, done her homework and everything had been fine. She'd watched some TV, and browsed around on the Internet for a while, goner to bed feeling fine.  
  
Now...all these weird feelings were plaguing her and she didn't know why or what it was. Her parents had already left for work when she went downstairs, which wasn't surprising. No interesting mail, bills and her Mom's magazine subscriptions. She grabbed a breakfast bar and the books she'd left on the table last night.  
  
The streets of her hometown were the same as always. The usual flow of people were about, kids heading for school, business people heading for work, moms with children too young for school heading into town or the nearest city.  
  
No one talked to her as Sarah blended in amongst them. Something she was perfectly used to. She was the quiet type of girl whose name people knew, but didn't really have nay friends. She was planning on going to New York when she graduated that summer, to be a Broadway superstar.  
  
She loved to sing and act, but never got cast in the plays the drama people put on, apart from maybe being in the backing chorus. She wasn't cheerful enough, or popular enough to get starring roles.  
  
"He's coming."   
  
At first Sarah was confused, she'd heard the voice just passing by. It was Beth Mandrill, the popular girl, standing at the top of the school steps.   
  
"He's coming for you, Sarah."  
  
"Who's coming?"  
  
Beth's expression was distant, her eyes glittering strangely. Her lips were curved into an odd smile. "*Him*," she said. "The one who will change your world."  
  
"Okay..." Sarah never believed in things like preordained destiny. She wondered what Beth had been smoking. In the four years Sarah had been at St. Francis High, Beth hardly so much as glanced at her. Sarah didn't even know Beth knew her name. She ran with the best crowd, the fashion setters, the cheerleaders, the girls who looked perfect and dated all the stars from the sports teams.  
  
"Beth, come on, I hear there's some hot new guy arrived today." Libby Mathews, Beth's best friend grabbed her arm, dragging Beth away from Sarah in another direction. Beth blinked, shaking her lion's mane of golden blonde hair. She looked confused for a few minutes, then pulled herself together,  
  
"Sure, okay, who is he?" She hurried away with Libby, ignoring Sarah.  
  
Sarah shrugged and headed for her locker. Beth's words echoed in her mind. ~He's coming. Him. The one who will change your world.~  
  
What the hell was *that* supposed to mean?  
  
* * * 


	2. Part2

Part 2  
  
What am I doing here? Edan Redfern wandered aimlessly down the streets of the small town. He'd never been to California before, he hadn't like the big cities much. Too many people for his taste. Sure, they might be considered a great food source, Edan didn't like to think of himself as a killer.  
  
So instead he'd decided to try one of the smaller towns with odd names like Harmony Bay, Crystal Falls, Springwood, Sunville. This particular one was called Forest Lake. He liked the sound of the name, the large woods surrounding the town, full of wildlife to feed on. There was a picturesque lake reflecting the forest, seemed like a perfect place for quiet contemplation.  
  
He could see the townsfolk heading about their morning business. He could join a local high school, have a life in the modern world. He'd been out of sorts for centuries, ever since Annabelle had left. How could you Annabelle? he thought, shaking his head.  
  
He had told himself he wouldn't think about her anymore. Because thoughts of her, brought unwanted thoughts of the rage he and hatred he had felt for the enemy she had left him for. Snobby bastard who thinks he's god's gift to vampirism, he thought. Edan scowled.  
  
He needed something to clear his mind, so human high school was probably going to be the best solution. He had been eighteen when he had died over three hundred years ago, he didn't look any older.  
  
He followed the teenagers, getting several approving glances from some of the girls who walked by. He smiled faintly, he still had is aristocratic good looks , his chiselled features, sea green eyes, sculpted, desirable lips, shoulder length blonde hair.   
  
There was a girl in reception when he found his way there. She couldn't take her eyes off him. "Can I help you?" she asked, smiling seductively, fluttering her eyelashes at him.  
  
"Yes, I'm a new student here, I was told there are some forms I need to fill out." He still had traces of the British accent he used to have. No amount of travelling seemed to make it disappear.  
  
"You from England?" the girl asked, handing him several pieces of paper.  
  
"Originally." He took the papers, filled in the necessary parts and handed them back to the girl. He didn't quite know how to get past the technical side of things, like contact numbers, or a reference from his last school. He could find a witch to brainwash the necessary people, he guessed.  
  
"What's your name?" she asked.  
  
"Edan Redfern."  
  
"You're kidding. How did someone as gorgeous as you get such a weird name?"  
  
Edan shrugged. "And you are?"  
  
"Sharon Arnett. "  
  
Edan waited impatiently while she sorted things out. As she bent to put her head in a filing cabinet he noticed how soft and slender her neck was. How sweet would she taste when he let his teeth sink into her...  
  
Edan cut off the thought. Maybe this human high school thing was a bad idea after all.   
  
"Here's your schedule," Sharon said sweetly.  
  
Edan snatched the paper away. "Thanks," he muttered, hurrying away.  
  
He checked his class list and headed for geometry, stopping dead. It was *her*, walking down the hall towards him, dark hair falling around her shoulders, staring at the floor as she walked. She didn't look up to see him.  
  
He caught her arm roughly as she passed. She looked up, surprised. "Excuse me?"  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Edan could barely contain his anger. He wished he had a nice long stake with him.  
  
"Going to my Spanish class," she said, eyeing him as if he were insane.  
  
"With him? Is he here?" If *she* was there, then it was a safe bet he would be following close behind.   
  
"He who?"  
  
Edan sneered. "Broke up, did you? Too bad." An idea was beginning to form in his mind. So they were pulling off this high school thing as well. They had to be up to something.   
  
She yanked her arm free. "Who *are* you?"  
  
Edan snorted. He wondered if he should be annoyed she didn't seem to remember him. Or more than likely she was just screwing with his head. It wouldn't be the first time.   
  
"Play games all you want, Helenia. You won't fool me." He smiled unpleasantly and walked away. //Give Arcturus my regards// he added telepathically as he walked away. Exposing them was going to be fun.  
  
* * * 


	3. Part3

Part 3  
  
Sarah blinked, staring after the irritating British guy as he walked off. She didn't get it. Was he insane or something? With a roll of her eyes she hurried to class, taking her seat.  
  
"You look - odd." Giselle, the girl she sat next to, was studying her.   
  
"Thanks," Sarah snorted. First the weird thing with Beth talking to her in some sort of trance, then that guy thinking she was whoever the hell *Helenia* was She was surely crazy herself, because she could have sworn the last thing he'd said to her was in her mind. And who was Arcturus, anyway?   
  
"Have you seen the new guy?" she asked Giselle.  
  
Giselle turned, twirling a strand of curly chestnut hair around her finger. "Isn't he just *so* sexy?"  
  
"He seemed like a creep to me. What's his name?" She had been so shocked to his reaction to her she had forgotten to ask.   
  
"Arcturus Redfern."  
  
Sarah stared, almost knocking her books off her desk. Hang on, that couldn't be right. "Blond, British?"  
  
Giselle shook her head. "No, tall, dark, impossibly gorgeous? Green eyes, from Canada? Who are you talking about?"  
  
"A guy I ran into just now. He called me Helenia and didn't seem too pleased to see me. He said to give Arcturus his regards."  
  
"Maybe Arcturus has a brother he doesn't get on with, and Helenia was some girl who came between them."  
  
That did actually make sense. Yet Beth's earlier remarks about someone coming to change her world floated back to her. She had dismissed it earlier, deciding Beth was stoned, and girls like her could get away with pot on campus.   
  
Now she was starting to think maybe Beth *hadn't* been stoned. What if that was some kind of actual message to come to Sarah, Beth could have just been the unfortunate one possessed to pass the message on.  
  
That was just - well - impossible. Like a movie plot, but things like that just didn't happen in real life. Or at least, not to Sarah, anyway.   
  
"You'll have to point this other guy out to me."  
  
  
  
Sarah barely grunted. Class ended before long, and Sarah found herself pleased she didn't run into that guy again. She did, however, see another new face. Model stunning, eyes like emeralds, his features were similar to the snotty guy, except his long hair was black, instead of blond.  
  
He flashed Sarah a dazzling smile, coming over and pulling her into his arms. "Helenia. I didn't expect to see you here." He looked over her, a long, cold finger tracing her features. "You're new look's different, I'll give you that." He grinned.  
  
Sarah didn't understand what was going on. "You must be Arcturus."  
  
"I was the last time I looked." He moved in to kiss her.  
  
Sarah pushed him away.   
  
"Helenia?" He was frowning at her, she could see confusion in his eyes. Obviously he wasn't used to girls stopping him from kissing them. Under other circumstances, Sarah would have welcomed the hot guy all over her, but this was way too weird.  
  
"My name is Sarah Paxton. Whoever you and that British guy think I am, I'm not. Stop calling me Helenia."   
  
Arcturus pulled away. "Edan is here? You've got to be kidding."  
  
Sarah shook her head. "Who's Helenia?"  
  
Arcturus stepped back. "Never mind." He turned and walked off into the crowd of students. The group of onlookers who had been watching drifted off as well. Several girls were staring enviously at her. She ignored them, and hurried to her locker.  
  
And if this day wasn't crazy enough already, there was a girl she had never seen waiting by her locker. The girl was wearing some sort of high necked ball gown with puffy sleeves, a low neckline, and long skirt, brushing the floor around her. Her ruby red hair was curled into a ridiculously elaborate upsweep. She looked like she'd stepped out of a history textbook.   
  
Sarah sighed. "Don't tell me, you're Helenia?"  
  
The girl shook ruby curls. "My name is Annabelle. Do not be fooled by Arcturus's charm. Do not make the same mistake I did."  
  
Sarah's eyes closed. What did she have to do with *any* of this? When she opened her eyes to ask that question, Annabelle was gone.  
  
* * * 


	4. Part4

Part 4  
  
"I don't get it, what does that have to do with me?" Beth scowled, watching the sexy new guy all over that weird nobody girl Sarah.  
  
"Who cares? He'll forget her by lunch," Libby said reassuringly. "Why were you talking to her this morning."  
  
Beth glanced briefly away from Arcturus to look at Libby. "Why would I be talking to her?"  
  
"That was my question," Libby said, examining her reflection in a compact mirror, smiling at the perfect image reflecting back at her.   
  
"I wasn't talking to her," Beth said hotly.   
  
"But I saw - "  
  
"I don't care what you saw, I *wasn't*!" Beth snapped and stalked off, head held high. She was pleased no one followed her. Usually she was surrounded by people wherever she went. She didn't know what Libby thought she was talking about. *Why* would she waste her time with a loser like Sarah?  
  
It's not like it's the first time an unpleasant thought inside her pointed out. Okay, so maybe it wasn't. Beth stepped quickly into a rest room. More than once she'd been heading somewhere, blanked out and found herself in a place she had no idea how she'd gotten there.  
  
It was spooky, she never knew what happened and never remembered. She never dared tell anyone, dreading to think what it would do to her popularity status.  
  
She took a deep breath and splashed her face with water. She felt better now.  
  
She ran a brush through her blonde hair, and redid her lipstick. There. She was about to step out into the hall when she heard voices coming around the corner.   
  
"He's here. Can you believe he had the *nerve* to pull this powerful monster in our world crap?"  
  
Beth blinked. The voice was that of Andreas Blackthorn, the football captain. Monsters?   
  
"Just stay cool. His brother's supposed to be here as well. Sharon helped him sign in this morning." That was Amber Halloway, the freaky school Goth; she was even weirder than Sarah.  
  
Amber and Andreas just did *not* mix.  
  
"Stay *cool?* It's *Arcturus* *Redfern*. This bastard's supposed to be - "  
  
"Your worst nightmare with fangs, I know, I've done the research."  
  
"What about Sarah? He's already hooked on her. They think she's Helenia."  
  
"Well according to Giselle, Sarah isn't impressed with either of them." Amber sounded pleased at that.  
  
"Just make - make sure she's okay, Arcturus is supposed to love the girl next door type." Andreas's voice was full of bitter hatred and anger.  
  
Beth wondered what was going on. She didn't quite know what to make of any of it. It was kind of funny in one way.   
  
"I'll make sure Sarah's safe, don't worry. I gotta make a quick stop."  
  
Beth ducked into a stall as the bathroom door opened. She waited a few minutes and backed out, heading for the library instead of her next class. So. Arcturus Redfern was some kind of monster with fangs who loved innocent nobodies. He was a ...vampire? She sighed at the thought, it was almost...romantic. To be young and beautiful forever...what a thought, she could be his eternal companion.   
  
Emily Hopper and Jasmine Stillman, part of her crowd, were in the library, waving her over to their table. "Have you seen the two new guys?"  
  
"One of them," Beth said, sitting down. She just couldn't keep to herself what she had just heard. Maybe they could tell her something constructive about it. "Can you guys keep a secret?"   
  
* * * 


	5. Part5

Part 5   
  
The resemblance was almost too uncanny to be real. It ad to be her, Arcturus was sure of it. What he *wasn't* sure of, however, was what Helenia's plans were. He'd heard rumours Edan was supposed to be around somewhere. That didn't exactly help. Had he seen Helenia in this wimpy human disguise?  
  
Helenia unfortunately, didn't seem to remember anything. Maybe she had been murdered and reborn...but how could that work? Vampires didn't come back as old souls. Unless this was some sort of game she was playing with him. They always used to discuss their plans.   
  
"Who are you looking at?"  
  
Arcturus blinked, brought out of his musing, eyeing the small group of a guy and two girls who had approached his table, all of them gorgeous with otherworldly beauty. Night People, most likely.  
  
"Who's she?" he asked, nodding to the table Helenia or "Sarah" as she was calling herself was sitting, head buried in a Clive Barker novel.   
  
"No one special," one of the girls said, sitting down next to him and smiling seductively.   
  
"I'm Jasmine Stillman, that's Shannon Arlin, and he's Damien Mandrill."  
  
"So we hear you're a Redfern. We've never had one of them here before."  
  
Arcturus wondered if he detected a note of jealously in Damien's voice. They were all from standard, ordinary Night World families and he got the satisfaction of the prestigious name of Redfern.   
  
"It's just a name," he said, with a careless shrug.   
  
"So what made you come here?" Shannon had moved to the other side of the room.   
  
"I was bored." True enough. He liked manipulating people in small towns, they were fun to screw with. He didn't think that saying that would make much of a first impression.  
  
"You're 100 plus, aren't you." Damien shook his head, "I don't get why vamps with age and power decide to head back to high school."  
  
Arcturus shrugged. "Me neither, but I decided to give it a try. It has its advantages." His gaze moved to the swan-like necks of a table full of cheerleaders. Yet still, he felt himself drawn to Helenia. "And I'm actually three hundred plus," he added.  
  
"I guess you'll ace history then," Jasmine snorted.   
  
  
"Hey, if you want a human toy, then try playing with someone *important*, they're more fun than the nobodies," Damien offered. He nodded to another table with well pressed, pretty human girls. A tall blonde dressed in a green sleeveless top, and a short patterned skirt to match caught Arcturus's attention.   
  
"Who's she?" he asked.  
  
"That's Beth Harman," Shannon told him.  
  
"She's a Harman?"  
  
"She doesn't know the Harmans are witches. She was adopted," Shannon said. His expression was unusually deadpan. She wasn't smiling, and her blue eyes were narrowed at him. What was her problem?  
  
Arcturus held her gaze until she looked away. She made him feel oddly uncomfortable. He turned away and forced himself to look at Beth instead. A toy that didn't know she was a witch. Hmm. He might be able to have fun with that.  
  
* * * 


	6. Part6

Part 6  
  
Edan had decided to spend his first day keeping to the shadows. His main focus had been watching Helenia. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to remember him at all. She hadn't said a word to him since that morning.  
  
He'd kept an ear out for anyone with a Night World sounding surname, and unfortunately for him, most of the obvious ones had all latched on to Arcturus. It just wasn't fair, Edan thought as he sat in his last class of the day. Settling down in the human world had been *his* idea. Instead that bastard had decided to butt in and spoil everything.   
  
At least, on the bright side, Edan reminded himself, Helenia didn't seem too interested in Arcturus either. Helenia didn't recognise him either. She was in the same class as him now, sitting two rows ahead, looking down at her text book. He just couldn't figure it out.  
  
How could a girl with the exact same looks as Helenia not know anything about what she had *done* to him? He wondered about the possibility of reincarnation. Helenia had been a snobby, stuck up bitch and as far as he knew, vampires didn't reincarnate, all to do with the no souls business. Helenia, he was certain, had never possessed a soul.  
  
Trying to talk to her was probably a bad idea. He had yelled at her once that day. She probably thought he was crazy. He found he couldn't really blame her for that one.   
  
Class finally ended, Helenia - or whatever her name was at the moment - was one of the first out the door. Edan sighed, and decided to follow her. He lost sight of her in the mass of people heading for the exits.  
  
"Excuse me, are you Edan Redfern?"  
  
Edan turned around to see a small Goth girl speaking to him. Her waist length hair was dyed a bright blue with black streaks. She wore a red and black stripy top, and blue leather pants, her long nails were painted black.  
  
"That depends on who's asking." Edan looked her over a second time.   
  
The girl smiled. "Amber Halloway." The smile became a grin. "I suppose you wouldn't believe I'm the Daybreak welcome committee."  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
Amber laughed. "Yeah, this is my brilliant disguise." She twirled around. "Funky, huh?"  
  
Edan found himself grinning as well, trying to push away the memories of Annabelle twirling in front of him. She had always loved to dance and show off. "So what's this all about?"  
  
"Come on."  
  
  
  
With nothing else to do, he followed Amber out the building to a small ice cream parlour in the town centre. Sitting in one booth was a guy in a letterman jacket, muscular and blond, with a tall dark skinned girl, next to him, raven hair falling around her shoulders.   
  
"This is Andreas Blackthorn and Lvana Summers," Amber said, gesturing for him to sit down.   
  
"One thing clear first, " Andreas said bluntly. "I have major issues with your pain in the ass brother."  
  
Edan snorted. "Hey, if you want to kill him, be my guest."  
  
"I hardly think killing off the new guy all the girls are going drooly over at the moment is going to give us much of an impression," Lvana said dryly.   
  
"A minor loss, they'd get over it," Edan said, sitting back in his chair.  
  
"He's already hitting on Beth Harman," Amber told them, opening a Coke can.  
  
"Who is an idiot that gets what she deserves," Lvana said.  
  
Edan wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea that Amber had brought him here to simply discuss Arcturus. Not his idea of a good time. "What's the point of this?" he asked.  
  
"My issues with Arcturus are he seduced and killed my soulmate, Demetria Paxton," Andreas said with a scowl. "Both of you have a fixation with Demetria's sister Sarah."  
  
So that was her real name. "She looks like Helenia Kilar, a vampire who used us both several centuries ago," Edan admitted. "She toyed with us, having us both at the point where we would literally do *anything* she told us. She made me kill a girl I loved very much."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence. Edan didn't like talking about this, particularly not with total strangers. What the hell was happening to him?   
  
"Sarah doesn't need to suffer at Arcturus's hands, just because she looks like this Helenia person," Andreas said. He was still angry, and Edan thought he heard bitter determination in his voice. Andreas's emerald eyes bored into his. "Or you."  
  
Edan didn't say a word, just stared evenly back. He wondered if Andreas was in love with Sarah, trying to replace his lost soulmate with her sister. Edan despised Helenia. If he had the chance to make the bitch pay for what she had done, he'd do it in a second.  
  
"What are you two?" he asked Amber and Lvana.   
  
"I'm a witch, Lvana's a werewolf," Amber answered.   
  
Edan wasn't impressed, or the intimidated in the slightest. One vampire, a with and a werewolf, it wasn't like that would be hard for him to deal with. He needed some people on *his* side. So far, he wasn't doing very well. "Some Daybreak welcome committee," he snorted, standing up.  
  
Andreas looked like he was about to start making trouble, but Amber stopped him, simply by placing a hand on his arm.   
  
"We'll be watching you."  
  
"Gee, I'm scared," Edan sneered, and left the ice cream parlour. How could he get access to Helenia/Sarah? From what he saw, the girl was a loner. All he needed to do was pretend to be her friend.  
  
"Do not harm her."  
  
Edan looked over his shoulder at the blonde girl standing behind him. Pale gold hair, and violet eyes, she must be Beth Harman. "What?"  
  
"Harm her and you will be making an unforgivable mistake."  
  
The girl's expression was blank, she was staring straight ahead, almost like she was possessed.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?"   
  
"Do not destroy your own destiny."  
  
Edan shook his head in confusion. So much for settling down in a small town with ordinary people, he thought.  
  
The blonde girl blinked and looked up at him "Who are you?"  
  
"You were just talking to me." He eyed her curiously.   
  
The girl looked around. "How'd I get here?"  
  
Edan shrugged. "You're asking me? You were telling me not to hurt my destiny or some crap like that."  
  
She shook her head. "I wasn't. This never happened!" She turned and practically ran away.  
  
* * * 


	7. Part7

Part 7  
  
Sarah found herself pleased that at least the rest of her day had been normal. Neither Arcturus nor his obnoxious brother had tried to do anything more to her. Although, she had noticed that Edan couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. No one else called her Helenia. And she hadn't seen anymore ghostly apparitions either.  
  
She hadn't quite understood what the hell all that had been about. She knew a few kids from the AV club, and had asked about how ghosts could be projected, they'd just given her odd looks.  
  
So I'm seeing ghosts Sarah thought. That's a new one First Beth had been acting weird, then irritating new guys thinking she was someone who she wasn't.Sarah cut the thoughts off. It wasn't really worth musing over.  
  
She knew everyone would forget about this in a day and she would go back to being anonymous. Besides, Arcturus was already hitting on Beth.  
  
She settled down in her room and had just started on her homework when the doorbell rang. Who the hell would be visiting me? Sarah thought as she put her pencil down and went to answer the door.  
  
Drawing a sharp breath at the sight of Edan Redfern outlined against the setting sun. His blond hair had the dull glow of gold, half his face was hidden in mysterious shadows, his blue eyes were glittering in a way she had never seen before. "What are you doing here?" she asked.  
  
"I need to explain about this morning, and apologise," he said.  
  
Sarah wondered whether or not she should let him in. He still made her nervous. There were plenty of neighbours in screaming distance, she guessed. "All right/" She gestured for him to come in.  
  
He didn't seem to want to sit down and stay still. "How come you and your brother keep calling me Helenia?" she asked.  
  
Edan frowned, clearly uncomfortable. If he didn't like discussing the subject, then why was he even brothering to come over and explain it all to her?  
  
"Helenia was a girl we both knew before we came here. She was - " He broke off and shook his head. "Well, let's just say she wasn't the nicest person in the world. And you sort of look almost exactly like her."  
  
"Oh." Sarah studied him for a few minutes. There was something *about* him she couldn't quite seem to put her fingers on. She felt certain she'd met him before somehow, but didn't know how to figure out where she knew him from.  
  
She was wanted to ask him about Annabelle the ghost, but then she changed her mind, deciding it would upset him. She didn't know how she knew that, she just *knew*.  
  
"Anyway, I was just so shocked to see her - or think I saw her again, and I kind of lost it," Edan was going on. "So sorry if I scared you."  
  
"It's okay, I guess." Sarah wasn't really sure what he was expecting of her. She couldn't take her eyes off him. She yearned to touch him, warm that pale skin, run her fingers through that gold hair of his, kiss those delicious looking lips, caresse that.  
  
She broke the thoughts off. She'd never had thoughts about a boy, or the parts she was thinking of before now. She was shocked at herself.  
  
"So.um.feel like a movie later?" His smile was warm and friendly. It was all Sarah could do to keep melting in front of him.  
  
"I - I have too much homework, sorry," she said, and opened the front door.  
  
Edan shrugged. "Maybe another time."  
  
"See you round." She closed and locked the door once he was gone, and annoyed that even though he was out of the way she didn't feel any differently. What *was* it about him that had her emotions spiralling like this?  
  
One minute she was scared, irritated with him, scared to invite him into her house, the next thing she was thinking.well.things she would never bring herself to say out loud.  
  
Sarah shuddered as she went back to the normal world of high school homework, deciding she was probably better off not knowing.  
  
* * * 


	8. Part8

Part 8  
  
"The strangest thing happened today."  
  
Helenia looked up from her magazine as she lounged on her exclusively made coral coloured couch, reaching for a chocolate from the Godiva box on the coffee table. She scowled at the dull brown haired witch who had dared to interrupt her.   
  
"I don't really *care*," she answered languidly.   
  
"Both Arcturus and Edan Redfern started at school today. There's also a girl who is the exact image of you."  
  
Helenia looked at the witch. Sheila was it - or maybe it was Sharon? She dropped the magazine. Maybe it was Sandy. Who cared? "But I made sure those two would never speak again."  
  
Oh, those handsome boys had been so much fun. So easy, so willing to bend how she wanted them to. She loved that kind of person, the obsessive ones who would do anything. They were fun to play with.  
  
"They're not exactly on speaking terms."  
  
Helenia stood up, twirling in the sassy new midnight blue dress she had taken from a model who claimed she had just come back from a fashion show in Milan. "You think I should have taken that hot pink number from that French chickie instead of Ms. Italy?" Her gold hair flew out behind her as she danced around the exquisite living room in her newest luxury apartment.  
  
"I always preferred blue to pink, and blood is blood no matter where it comes from," Sharon (or maybe Sandy) offered.   
  
"As long as it's from people." Helenia paused in front of a gold framed mirror above the fire place, smiling at herself.   
  
"You're not interested in Arcturus or Edan, then?"  
  
"Who's the girl who looks like me? I want to see her." Three were lots of girls with pretty pale skin and masses of curly blonde hair, probably a decent number of them were vampires, it wasn't exactly a new look.  
  
"Her name is Sarah Paxton. They think she's actually you."  
  
That couldn't be right. There could only ever be one Helenia Montague. No vermin bitch could ever have any part of her. "What's Arcturus doing?" she asked. "Is he still mean and fun?"  
  
"He's been flirting with the lost witch Beth Harman."  
  
Helenia made face, eating another chocolate. Arcturus's problem was that he tended to do the same thing over and over. He picked the pretty girls, screwed them every way he could think of until they were utterly mad ith obsession for him, then he dumped them when they were crazy, then he had them killed. The first five times it had been fun, but after that it had lost its appeal.  
  
"Edan?"  
  
"Don't know."  
  
Helenia flopped back on the couch. Something had to be done here. "Bring the vermin girl to me. I want to have a chat with her."  
  
Sharon nodded like the obedient servant she was and went to do just that. Sighing, Helenia picked up the magazine again. Sometimes she wished her staff would turn against her. Give her something to *do*.  
  
She wasn't all that keen on small towns, but they seemed to be the in thing for vampires. She couldn't see the fascination herself so she'd decided to try and find out what was so appealing. Every time she tried to liven things up in places like this, those annoying Daybreak people tended to get in the way and spoil everything.   
  
She wondered who had decided to come here first. Edan or Arcturus. Had some simply followed the other? If that was the case, then she wanted to know why. Once she'd been done, they couldn't stand the sight of each other. And one she was done with that vermin bitch trying to steal her identity, she'd do something about then again.  
  
* * * 


	9. Part9

Part 9 Beth was seriously considering locking herself in her room and never coming out again. If she did then she couldn't have any weird *possession* attacks and talk to strange guys she'd never seen before. Now she was safe at home in her room, she remembered all of it. Which was really, really freaky because that had never happened to her before. She hugged a large furry pillow closer to her, drawing her knees closer to her stomach. she thought miserably. She couldn't understand any of it. She wasn't even sure why she would even care what some British guy did to Sarah Paxton, who she didn't even know, and didn't want to know. The girl was a loser, plain and simple. If she talked about this to anyone, they would think she was nuts. It was terrible having a secret like this and not being able to do anything about it. "I've got *just* the news to cheer you up." Libby came bouncing into Beth's room without knocking. Beth sighed with irritation, not wanting to deal with Libby's perkiness at the moment. "What?" Libby perched on the end of Beth's bed. "You're going out with Arcturus Redfern later!" Beth blinked, tossing the furry cushion to one side. "The new guy? The really dark and sexy one?" Libby nodded. "You'll just owe me, like, forever with this one." Beth smiled. Libby was never normally this generous when it came to guys, particularly new and interesting ones. "How'd you manage that?" Libby shrugged. "If you'd have bothered to turn up to art this afternoon, you'd have seen him there. He was asking about you, he's picking you up at eight." Beth had already forgotten about what had happened that afternoon. Who cared about freaky things nobody understood when you had a date with a really hot guy? Checking her watch she saw it was already six thirty. "I need to start getting ready!" She flew off the bed, heading for the walk in closet. "I need to find something to *wear*." "And tomorrow, you have to tell me *everything*, Libby said. She stood up and left, leaving Beth to ponder her outfits. * * * "How are they going to pull this one off?" Sharon shook her head in confusion. "He's practically given them everything they need to catch him?" Lvana stared out the car's window, shaking her head. "I'm assuming he's done this kind of thing before." Sharon glanced over at her. Then shook her head again. "As long as we don't get caught, I'm not fussed. I've got other things I'm supposed to be doing right now." Lvana smiled faintly, but didn't say anything, her mind drifting back to earlier in the day. She was now beginning to wish she had never found that message board. Occasionally Lvana looked at a message board on an internet website which told stories of odd and unexplained supernatural things that had happened to people. Mainly she went on just for a laugh. She'd been browsing during sixth period instead of being in class. And was more than a little surprised to see one of it's users that day had been Sarah Paxton. The stupid girl had actually given her full name, location and everything anyone would need to hunt her down and find her, anyone or any*thing*. Despite Sarah's stupidity, her story though, actually was kind of interesting. It talked about the strange voice speaking to her through Beth Harman, the two brothers who apparently both hated each other mistaking her for someone called Helenia, and perhaps the most intriguing, a visit from a ghostly apparition calling herself Annabelle, warning her to stay away from the darker brother, Arcturus. "This Beth person, does she do that a lot?" The deep male voice had startled her. Lvana wished she had found a more private area to browse, instead of her laptop in the library. Somewhere the creepy presence that turned out to be Arcturus Redfern wouldn't be able to hang over her shoulder and scare the hell out of her. "Do what?" Lvana had asked him, forcing herself to meet Arcturus's deep green eyes. "Sound strange, look like she's possessed?" Lvana shrugged. "I'm not sure, Libby was saying she weirded out this morning. Why?" Arcturus was silent for a moment as he read Sarah's story. "Damnit," he muttered angrily. Lvana didn't have a clue what he was so pissed off about. She couldn't say anything, so she waited for him. "Would anyone particularly object if Beth Harman was killed?" Lvana blinked. Then smiled a little. "I certainly wouldn't, and would be more than happy to turn a blind eye to this conversation. Though you'd have to be careful." He'd been asking about Beth a lot that afternoon, now he wanted her dead? She wasn't even going to pretend she knew why. "Beth is very popular." Arcturus smirked. "I've done this before, you know. If anyone asks - "  
  
"All right, all right. I know." She watched him leave, shaking her head as she turned back to the computer, turning it off. Who were Annabelle and Helenia anyway? Amber and Andreas were fuming over Edan had his apparent obsession with Sarah. This had been a very strange day all round. Normally, she was lucky enough to avoid getting into things like this, she was usually dragged in as a third party or for advice. She had been hoping that would be the case with this one. Now she was sat in Sharon's car, waiting for Arcturus's next instructions. She didn't know why he'd picked Sharon to help out. He'd been doing something with Libby earlier, which was kind of confusing. "Someone tell him to finish what the hell he's doing so we can get out of here," Sharon grumbled, folding her arms impatiently. "We just have to wait," Lvana said patiently. Though she didn't really know what they were waiting for. * * * 


	10. Part 10

Part 10  
  
Sitting along in his darkened room Edan was starting to wonder if there was really any point in hanging around this stupid town anymore.   
  
He'd almost been looking forward to settling down here, the plan had been to stimulate his mind, maybe find something to live for. Instead he got a bombardment of crap from his past thrown at him.  
  
The most inane one being of course, a girl who was an exact replica of Helenia, the woman who had destroyed his life, which should have been impossible.   
  
Unfortunately, those stupid Daybreakers were going to get in the way if he tried to do anything to her. And she had more or less shut the door in his face (in a polite and civilised way).  
  
And to make matters worse, the brother he hated had apparently had a similar idea to him. Though settling down really wasn't Arcturus's style. And why did he have to pick /here/ of all places?  
  
If all that wasn't enough, some lost witch was splurting out rambling nonsense to him then not knowing she'd said anything. Edan smiled faintly, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all.  
  
He could skip town and forget about it all. There was nothing holding him back to make him stay. He stood up and found his various bita and pieces, he hadn't even unpacked yet. Just as well really, he thought.  
  
He was about to go when there was a sudden hammering at the door. No one even knew where he was staying. Why would anyone want to find him? He opened the door, and found himself shaking his head in disbelief.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" he snorted, as a tall girl with creamy white skin and long curly red hair came in. He vaguely remembered a quote from a movie he'd seen once. Something about the past not being at rest and about to bite you in the ass. It seemed very appropriate to his situation. "Jora, are you going to tell me why you're here?"  
  
Jora just glared at him. "Shut the door, I don't think I've been followed."  
  
Edan shut the door. "How did you find me?"  
  
"I followed you," she said with a sheepish smile. "Been a while."  
  
"Whatever. Why are you /here/?" He hadn't seen Jora in at least a century, but just showing up when she felt like it was something Jora just /did/.  
  
"Arcturus has set you up."  
  
Edan's eyes rolled. "That's nothing new. He's been here less than a day, what can he do then?"  
  
Jora laughed dryly. "Plenty. He's already killed one of the most popular girls at the high school, a lost Harman witch of all people."  
"What's that got to do with me? I've barely spoken to the girl." He didn't like the thoughts that were trying to get into his mind.   
  
"Used some sort of glamour spell to make it seem like you were the killer."  
  
Edan felt a trickle of alarm. "He can't /do/ magic."  
  
Jora snorted. "He's seduced a witch to do it for him, of course. The witch is Libby Maxell."   
  
"Hang on a minute, Libby is the Harman girl Beth's best friend, why would she want to help Arcturus kill her?" This whole mess was going from nutty to just plain confusing.   
  
"Oh come on, you know Arcturus, he ca seduce anyone to do anything." Jora's eyes rolled with disgust. "I don't see it myself, but - " She trailed off and shrugged.  
  
"Okay, so Beth Harm is dead, Libby Maxell helped, Arcturus set it all up to look like I did it?"  
  
Jora nodded, smiling faintly. "That about covers it. I was passing through on an assignment and came across them. My advice - get the hell out of here."  
  
Edan smiled faintly. "I was just about to do that before you came." He paused, glancing at her. "What assignment?"  
  
"For Circle Daybreak," she answered simply.  
  
Edan was surprised. He'd never thought of Jora as a Daybreaker. She'd been Helenia's right hand woman in her glory days, he'd never understood why she'd left. Jora had been the sensible one. It had always struck him as weird that Helenia had never retaliated. When Jora disappeared, Helenia had moped for a decade.  
  
He opened his mouth, but Jora shook her head. "Don't go there. You don't want to open that door."  
  
He could live with that. The hard part now was finding somewhere to go.  
  
"Go and see her."  
  
"What?" He turned to Jora, who was staring blankly straight ahead, focusing on something he apparently couldn't see. Here we go again he thought, watching her closely.   
  
"You need to see her, once you do things will become clearer."  
  
"What things?" Edan had a sinking feeling he knew what this person was trying to get at, whoever it was.  
  
"Huh?" Jora blinked, eyeing him curiously. "What /was/ that?"  
  
Edan shook his head. "Long story. Look, I'd better go. See you round." He left the room without bothering to check out. There was somewhere he needed to go before he went anywhere else. With a deep breath, he knocked on Sarah's door.  
* * * 


	11. Part 11

Part 11  
  
So much for an ordinary evening Sarah thought. She peeked out of the door of the closet she'd hidden in. She remembered waking up that morning feeling strange, detached from the world and not knowing why. Convinced something would happen, but not knowing what.  
  
Now something *had* happened, that didn't make her feel any better. The end of the day had her trapped in a closet hiding from an insane vampire.  
  
"Do you have any idea how *annoying* you are? If you would just do what I *asked* in the first place then none of this would be happening!"  
  
The voice was a taunting singsong. Sarah closed the door as quietly as she cold, holding her breath as she heard footsteps in the room. She wished the crazy bitch would just go away and leave her alone.  
  
This is all Edan Redfern's fault she thought. If her or his stupid arrogant brother hadn't decided to come to town, she wouldn't be in this mess. No one would have noticed she looked almost the same as some ancient vampire, then she wouldn't have found out and wouldn't have come looking for her.  
  
She'd bee curious at first. Sharon had come round, not long after Edan had left. Sharon was one of the popular girls who ran with Beth's crowd. Sarah had been hoping Sharon might have had some idea what Beth had been blathering about that morning.  
  
"I need you to come with me now," Sharon had told her.  
  
Sarah was usually suspicious of the popular girls. She knew what they did to ordinary girls like her. "What for?"  
  
"There's someone who needs to see you right away. It's very important."  
  
To Sarah's amazement Sharon had reached out and grabbed her arm. It was clear Sharon was going to take her to see this person whether Sarah wanted to go or not.   
  
"Sharon, what have I told you about manhandling?"  
  
Sharon let go instantly. Sarah watched as girl got out of a long black limo. A girl who was almost identical to her. She must be the one they called Helenia. Sarah was shocked to see how alike they were. Where she was ordinary and dull, this girl was wealthy and beautiful were about the only differences.  
  
She walked into Sarah's house without being invited and took a seat on the couch, crossing her long elegant legs at the knees. Two men with expressionless faces, dressed in black complete with dark sunglasses followed, standing on either side of her.  
  
Sarah was too amazed to come up with a suitable comment.   
  
"You stole my face," the girl said crossly, in an almost child-like manor.  
  
Sarah looked over at Sharon, who just shrugged and left quickly.   
Sarah was left alone with Helenia. "Coincidence?" she offered.  
  
Helenia looked at her for what seemed like a very long time. She was starting to make Sarah feel extremely uncomfortable. Her beauty was - it had an almost *unnatural* quality to it.  
  
Helenia patted the space beside her. Nervously, Sarah sat down.  
  
"So which one do you like?"  
  
Sarah assumed she was referring to Edan and Arcturus. "Neither of them," she admitted. She'd decided to take note of Annabelle's warning and steer clear of Arcturus. He'd been watching her a lot, but hadn't made a move on her since that morning. And if Annabelle was a ghost, then she certainly didn't want to end up the same way.  
  
"Why not? They're both so yummy, and you'd be so surprised and what you can make them do." Her arm slipped around Sarah's shoulders, like they were two old friends having a good giggle. Her touch on Sarah's bare skin was ice cold. "You know what? I'm going to make you a vampire, like me, then we'll *really* have fun with them."  
  
Sarah stared at her in disbelief. "What?"  
  
"It's fun, vampires are everywhere, I'll fill you in on the Night World once you're changed." Helenia gripped both her shoulders in an iron-like grip, making Sarah cry out in shock.  
  
"Hey wait a minute, let's at least *talk* about this!" she protested.  
  
"If idiots like Arcturus and Edan can cope with being vampires. Then you can too." Helenia's eyes had gone from a bright blue to molten silver. She opened her mouth. Sarah screamed. Her canine teeth were *growing*. They really were turning into fangs.  
  
Sarah shrugged, slamming her knee into Helenia's stomach. Helenia shrieked. As her grip loosened, Sarah tore away. She ducked out of the reach of the body guards and managed to get into the first closet she saw.  
  
She hit there while Helenia and her guards searched the house for her. Sarah shuddered. She thought she heard the footsteps walking away.  
  
She peered out again. Luckily for her the closet she had run into was the one under the stairs, and the front door wasn't that far away. She hadn't closed it properly. She crept out and ran for the door, fumbling with the knob. She almost screamed again, running into Edan Redfern.  
  
"There's some crazy bitch in there trying to make me vampire! Help me!"   
  
Edan grabbed her hand and pulled her into a car waiting just behind the limo. "Helenia, isn't it?" her said, tearing down the street.   
  
Sarah nodded. "What the hell is happening? She was talking about *vampires* and something she called the *Night* *World* and I'd like to be one." She shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand any of it."  
  
Edan was silent as he stopped the car at a red light. "Do you know where Amber or Andreas might hang out?"  
  
Amber and Andreas? The combination of football jock and freaky Goth, just didn't sound right to Sarah. "Andreas might be at Spectrum. It's a sort of cross between a bar, a coffee shop and a club, where everyone hands out."  
  
"We'll go there, then."  
  
Sarah sat back in the seat, too frazzled to even ask what use a jock like Andras Blackthorn could be. "Why do I get the feeling this is only just the beginning?"  
  
* * * 


	12. Part 12

Part 12  
  
"Don't say anything, we don't know for sure what happened," Amber said as Andreas's mouth opened.  
  
Amber hadn't particularly been looking forward to breaking the news of Beth Harman's murder to him. She knew he'd find out sooner or later, some version of it would be all over the morning papers. She'd rather he heard it from her before he picked up on gossip and did something stupid.  
  
Unfortunately, it seemed he'd already been jumping to conclusions. Finding Andreas in Spectrum hadn't been all that hard. It just wasn't the best place to talk about Daybreak business. You never knew who might be listening.  
  
"I don't see why we can't just stake the bastard," Andreas growled.  
  
Amber had managed to drag him into a corner of the club with less people, she didn't seem to be having much luck in calming him down. He was glowering at Arcturus, who was out on the dance floor with Shannon Arlin. To her credit, she didn't seem all that interested in him.  
  
Though it wasn't Arcturus's darkly handsome looks that interested Amber. It was what made guys like him act that way. "We don't know it was them."  
  
Andreas laughed hollowly. "Please. It was one or the other, my guess is it's more likely to be *him*. He set it up so he could lame his brother and get away with it."  
  
"Why would he do that?" Amber asked, staring at the table top. Arcturus had been seen flirting with Beth most of the afternoon, asking questions about her when she wasn't around. Amber just couldn't understood what guys *saw* in Beth with her stupid brainless annoying personality. Secretly, she was kind of pleased he had killed the irritating cow.  
  
"I thought you hated Edan as well," she pointed out.  
  
Andras grunted, shrugging carelessly. "Couldn't give a damn about him as long as he stays away from Sarah."  
  
Amber's eyes rolled. "You preach all the time about protecting Sarah, and you've barely said a word to her."  
  
Andreas glared at her silently. It was a point she'd made many times before, oddly enough, he never seemed to have anything to say about Sarah apart from the fact she should be protected.  
  
"So what are we going to do about him, then?" Andreas's voice was almost *demanding* an answer Amber couldn't give him.  
  
"If you're going to kill him can I have front row seats?"  
  
Amber looked up, more than a little surprised to see Edan Redfern approaching their table, along with Sarah, who looked extremely perplexed.  
  
"What happened?" Andreas was on his feet, holding out his chair for her.  
  
Sarah eyed him warily, but sat down. "A lot of weird things that don't make any sense, and I'm not sure I want to repeat right now." She glanced over at Edan. "He says you guys might be able to help me."  
  
Amber nodded. "We can talk, sure, nut not here." She wasn't too sure about leading Edan Redfern to their Daybreak safehouse. She didn't trust him any more than Andreas did. She couldn't help noticing the way Sarah was leaning towards him.  
  
"If we're going somewhere, let's make it snappy, okay?" Edan was glancing around nervously. "I've been warned I've been set up. Something to do with Beth Harman being dead."  
  
"And you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Andreas said sourly, glaring at him.  
  
"Not until my friend Jora let me know," Edan answered evenly.  
  
Amber sighed. She had to admit she kind of liked the way Edan kept his cool, despite Andreas and his remarks. And she guessed there was really no where else they could go. "Let's go, then."  
  
* * * 


	13. Part 13

Part 13  
  
Arcturus watched the small group leaving, anger starting to boil when he saw Edan had managed to get the Helenia look-a-like. Why weren't there hoards of police running into to arrest him?  
  
The little witch Libby had assured him her spell had *worked*. His alibi should have been set up. He'd been on his date with Beth, dropped her off and met up with Libby and Lvana. Anyone who'd seen him kill Beth, should have seen *Edan* commit the dirty deed. Glamour was supposed to be Libby's speciality.   
  
Libby had also assured him she'd make sure there were some witnesses. Edan shouldn't stand a chance in hell. The Night World council would come in, Edan would be punished with excruciating pain for the unnecessary death of a Harman witch.  
  
Unfortunately, none of that had happened. Which meant Libby had screwed up.  
  
"So what are you going to do?" Shannon's arms were still draped loosely around his shoulders.   
  
The DJs' track had turned into a slow smoochy song. She was pressed against him, close enough for him to feel her breath on his cold skin.   
  
The problem was, he was completely aware of every inch of this girl, and she didn't actually *want* him. She was deliberately bating him for no reason other than the fact she *could*.  
  
Which made her all the more appealing to him. She wasn't one of those sappy, wimpy girls he could use and discard in a night.   
  
"Causing Libby some pain would be fun," he whispered in her hear, tongue brushing against her flesh.  
  
Shannon chuckled "If you want to keen your spleen where it belongs, you might want to watch your tongue, asshole."  
  
Arcturus snorted. "Give me a break."  
  
Shannon caught his chin in her razor sharp red nails. "Try me," she said, staring directly into his eyes.  
  
He shook his head, laughing. "You amaze me."  
  
"Eat me."  
  
"Don't tempt me. What would *you* do, then?"  
  
Shannon shrugged. "Get your girl, Sarah, she's the best bet. Something to happen to her, then you can play hero." Her eyes twinkled wickedly.  
  
"Playing the hero really isn't my thing."  
  
Shannon's eyes rolled. "Get with it, idiot."  
  
Arcturus thought about it was the slow song ended and Shannon moved away. He side stepped the next girl who hade a bee-line for him, moving quickly through the crowd and out into the cool night air.  
  
Libby could still be of some use, he thought, if grudgingly. Besides, it was Damien who had advised him to go after Beth. If he did Libby in right away, he could wind up attracting the wrong kind of attention.  
  
He needed to plan his next moves carefully. A mistake now could get him killed.  
  
* * * 


	14. part 14

Part 13  
  
Sarah had given up trying to make sense of all this other worldly society crap that Amber, Andreas and Edan were trying to use to explain the very strange things that were happening to her that weird day. That wasn't over yet her mind pointed out.  
  
~I'm not sure I can stand much more~ she thought. ~If anything else happens, I'll end up writing the next series of 24~.  
  
Any other time, she might have been intrigued at the idea of a society of supernatural beings living in the regular human world. Now her mind was too numb to even think about what that really meant.   
  
The story Edan was trying to tell her was almost absurdly far fetched. But the scary thing was, she was pretty sure that a story that insane, was probably going to be true.  
  
"So why would Arcturus want to risk killing someone as popular as Beth, and frame you for it? You barely said a word to her," Amber was saying.   
  
Leaving the club, Amber had driven the group to an ordinary house in the suburban area of the town, something she called a Daybreak safe house, where she lived with her friend Lvana.   
  
The house was just completely ordinary, not all that different from Sarah's own. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms upstairs. A dining room, living room and kitchen downstairs. The living room was elegantly decorated in a soft ivory colour with splashes of pale blue and gold thrown in. White leather arm chairs and a matching couch provided comfortable furniture. A glass coffee table was in the centre of the room. There was a huge TV in one corner in front of the bay window, opposite at the other end of the room was a stereo and large speakers. Perfectly normal.  
  
No one would never guess the house was occupied by a witch and a shapeshifter.  
  
Sarah sat in one of the arm chairs, toying with the leaf of a large plant by the side of her chair. Edan was lounging in the doorway, almost reluctant to come into the room. He shrugged at Amber's question. "It's the type of thing he likes to do. My guess if he thinks she's Helenia, he's probably trying to get rid of me so he can have Sarah to himself."  
  
"So why are we just standing here instead of staking the bastard?" Andreas stood in the opposite doorway, staring furiously.   
  
Sarah remembered his thing for her sister, who had disappeared over a year ago. No one had ever known what happened to her.   
  
"Does this have something to do with Demetria?" Sarah wasn't sure she could deal with much more information at the moment, but if she didn't ask now, then she would forget.  
  
"Arcturus killed her," Andreas answered bitterly. "When we went to New York for the weekend."  
  
"Oh." Actually, that wasn't as surprising as she had thought it would be. It didn't help her figure out what to do about Helenia chasing after her, or the ghost who put an appearance in, warning her about Arcturus.  
  
"So that's cleared up, but we still have a dozen other things to worry about as well," Amber said unhelpfully. Her hand rubbed her tables. She looked as tired as Sarah did.   
  
"Can't we just deal with it all in the morning?" Sarah complained.  
  
"It's not safe for you to go home at the moment, now Helenia knows where to find you," Edan warned.   
  
She had already figured that one out. "Then I'll stay here. But I can't take any more of this crap at the moment."  
  
Edan sighed. "I guess we'll have to stay in the guest room."  
  
Sarah's eyebrow show up. "Not in the same *room*. You must be joking."  
  
"The spare room has two beds," Amber pointed out, trying not to grin. "And we've only got one spare room."  
  
Sarah closed her eyes, What could she have *possibly* done to deserve this? "Great."  
  
Andreas's eyes rolled in disgust and he stalked off. Sarah wondered what his problem was, but didn't ask. He didn't have to share a room with a *vampire*. She scowled as she followed Amber to the guest room. She had started to take off her socks and shoes when Edan came in. She scowled again.   
  
"What?" He looked at her.   
  
"Just don't look, okay?"  
  
Edan chuckled as he kicked his own shoes off. "You're taking off your shoes. It's not exactly a strip tease turn on."  
  
"Screw you." Sarah shook her head in disgust. She stood up to go and find the bathroom. As she shoved Edan out the way, her fingers brushed against his. As their bare flesh touched, something happened that completely rocked her world.   
  
* * * 


	15. Part 15

Part 15  
  
Edan hadn't exactly been thrilled at the thought of sharing with Sarah. This girl had caused him nothing but trouble since he had come to this town.  
  
She spurred his emotions in a way nobody had done since Annabelle, and that had been two hundred years ago. He had been certain a little whole ago that he simply could *not* leave without saying goodbye to her.   
  
Then he'd had to rescue her from Helenia, and with her attitude towards him, he'd started to get annoyed. She'd barely said a word. Now - her touch was like nothing he had ever experienced.   
  
His mind was boggling, awash with a thousand new sensations as colour wrapped itself around them, so many different shades, the rainbow seemed to mix together so that all the colours became a beautiful white.   
  
He was vaguely aware of her arms moving around his shoulders, circling his waist, their lips meeting, melting together. The physical sensations didn't seem to mean much.  
  
What amazed him were the startling mental revelations. He could literally *feel* her awe and fascination, along with her frustration at knot rally understanding what was going on, her fear of the Night World.  
  
This isn't terrible, it's right he thought. It's meant to be. There was a reason I came to this town and now I've found her.  
  
Why would this thing be terrible?  
  
Edan frowned slightly, the thought didn't belong to him. Then he realised - *hers*. Sarah's thoughts. He could understand them, hear them as clearly as if she were speaking. The soulmate connection was bringing their minds together so nothing could be kept secret.  
  
That's all ell and good, but I don't really *want* your thoughts in my mind She seemed quite annoyed.   
  
There's nothing we can do. It's the soulmate connection. I've heard people complain about this all the time  
  
Sarah lay her head on his shoulder, just holding him as the gentle light bathed them in it's magic.   
  
So what's the point of this soulmate thing  
  
Edan's arms tightened around her. Helenia, nor Arcturus were ever going to lay a finger on her again. It's something that happens to people who are destined to be together. It tells people who their perfect partner is. We're made for each other.  
  
They stood that way for several minutes in comforting silence. Edan knew they were going to have to come back to reality at some point, but as far as he was concerned, at the moment reality could go to hell.  
  
He had his soulmate.  
  
Who's Annabelle?  
  
"What?" The question came as such a shock Edan spoke out loud. As soon as he had the white soulmate light vanished. He pushed her away from him. He *didn't* want her knowing about Annabelle yet.  
  
Sarah eyed him with confused as she stepped back.   
  
"Would you believe if me I told you this morning a ghost called Annabelle warned be to be wary of your brother?"  
  
"*What*?" Edan didn't know what to make of that.   
  
"And you never really explained the idea of Helenia, either. I get the whole Night World thing. It's *you* I don't get." She sat on the bed, shaking her head.   
  
Edan knew he was going to have to tell her the whole story of his past sooner or later. He had been putting his hopes on later. Unfortunately for him, hope was a fickle thing.  
  
"I hate to interrupt the love-in, but you and I have business to discuss. You forget, you owe yourself to me."  
  
Edan turned in alarm at the new voice coming from the closed bedroom door. A figure was imprinted there, surrounded by an almost sparkly dusky rose glow of magic. The figure was wearing a lilac dress, sat in a lotus position, an aureole of shining silvery blonde hair around her fairy-like face. A delicate mouth was curled in an elegant sneer.  
  
"Crap," Edan muttered, closing his eyes. "Fuck. I thought you were dead."  
  
"You wish. Don't think I won't come and claim what's mine." Then there was a flash of gold light, and she vanished.   
  
"Edan? Edan! What the hell is going on? Who are you *talking* to?"  
  
He blinked, turning back to look at Sarah, He couldn't even enjoy the discovery of his soulmate without someone from his past coming back to haunt him.   
  
"Forget about it. Get some sleep." He left the room, hurrying outside for the back porch swing, where he sat with his head in his hands.  
  
First Arcturus, then Helenia. And Annabelle apparently was a ghost. To make things worse, Cisara had shown up as well, a girl who should have been dead a century ago. Who had probably teamed up with Helenia and the two of them were plotting something horrible against him.   
  
And on top of it, he had Arcturus framing him for a murder he hadn't committed. No rest for the wicked he thought,  
  
* * * 


	16. Part 16

Part 16  
  
Teaming up with Cisara was not exactly the best plan in the world, but Helenia didn't have any other ideas in mind at the moment. She stalked around her expensive living room smashing anything that would break.   
  
Cisara was sprawled out on the couch, picking at a bowl of cherries, spitting the stones into a dish on the coffee table.   
  
"So it did work - and *stop* that! It's annoying!" Helenia picked a Picasso painting off the wall, about to snap it in half, then changed her mind. She reached for a glass vase instead, probably designer, (but she couldn't remember who by) and settled for breaking that instead.   
  
"Whatever." Cisara stopped eating the cherries and sat up. "Yes, it worked. Edan was freaked. The girl didn't have a clue what was going on."  
  
"That bitch. She turned *down* my offer of immortality." What insane human wouldn't want to be young and beautiful forever? It wasn't like the girl was anything special. Helenia could have changed that. She could have made the girl perfect and beautiful, given her a better life and made her powerful beyond imagining. "She needs to be taught a lesson."  
  
"She and Edan are soulmates," Cisara said casually, inspecting a piece of something colourful on the carpet.   
  
Helenia couldn't remember what it had been. An ornament? Or maybe it had been a perfume bottle. One of the two. Helenia shook her blonde head, sitting next to Cisara. "That's just so unfair. They were *mine*, she stole them."  
  
Ciara glared at her. "Edan is mine. We had a deal, and he broke it. I agreed to help you punish the human girl."  
  
"And Arcturus?" Helenia hadn't see, a lot from him. Surely if he was here at the same time as Edan then he was up to something.  
  
"Fair game. Not that interested, but wouldn't say now," Cisara said with a smirk.  
  
Helenia sank back against the soft leather upholstery of the couch. Okay, so she had Cisara to help her punish that stupid Sarah girl. How were they going to punish her?  
  
"We could have her kidnapped and threaten Edan with her and torture her," Cisara suggested smoothing down her purple leather trousers.  
  
Helenia waved a dismissive hand. "That's *boring*. I've done that before."  
  
Cisara grinned. "I've got a weakness for the classics."  
  
Helenia snorted. She didn't want to do a 'classic'. Something different had to be done. She was certain now she knew where to find her, Sarah wouldn't be staying at her house.   
  
"Sharon!" she yelled her for her witch. "Sharon, I need you!"  
  
"Jesus, you don't have to deafen me!" Cisara snapped, moving away from her. "Who the hell are you, Ozzy Osborne?"  
  
Helenia stared at her blankly. "Huh?"  
  
"Forget it." Cisara's eyes rolled.   
  
"You yelled?" Sharon came into the living room.  
  
"Where are the Daybreakers? Your dull friend Andreas is one. He'd know. Follow him and find out."  
  
Cisara was eying Sharon dubiously. "What's she?"  
  
"I'm a witch," Sharon answered, glancing coldly at Cisara. "Why?"  
  
Cisara began babbling in Helenia's head. Helenia was tempted not to listen. She did when she realised Cisara had come up with a plan. A plan she actually liked the sound of. Sharon was looking from one to the other, arms folded, not questioning them. That was what Helenia liked about Sharon. She did what she was asked without questioning.  
  
"We're going to do a little spell," Helenia said gleefully. "Or rather, *you're* going to do it for us. We need some blood from Sarah. Get it."  
  
Sharon nodded. "Anything else?"  
  
"We'll get that." Cisara was grinning wickedly. "You just get the blood."  
  
* * * 


	17. Part 17

Part 17  
  
Sarah woke in an extremely bad mood the next morning. Edan hadn't come back to the room. She found a suitcase of her clothes by her bed. She deliberately took a long time in the shower, and dressing afterwards. She was still trying to get her mind around what had happened last night.   
  
One minute everything had been wonderful - she couldn't even begin to think of the right words. Magical, and unreal, and - and - *amazing* weren't even good enough for a beginner. Soulmates...it seemed like such a wonderful idea, to have found her mate, her equal, someone who would always be there no matter what.  
  
^No matter what^ Sarah thought. ^Yeah, right.^  
  
She stomped down the stairs, hoping at least at school she could still be anonymous.  
  
"You look terrible," Lvana commented. She was emptying the dishwasher when Sarah came into the kitchen.  
  
Sarah grunted. "I had a bad night."  
  
"Bad day from what I hear," Lvana commented.   
  
Sarah's grunt became a groan. "Pretty much. Have you seen Edan?"  
  
Lvana shook her head. Sarah sighed. She didn't really feel like breakfast. She decided to walk to school. Most of her books, luckily for her, were still in her locker. She couldn't risk going back to her house and running into crazy vampire girl. She'd put up with whatever punishment she got for not doing her homework.  
  
She started to walk towards the front door.  
  
"Hey, where are you going?" Lvana called after her.  
  
"School," Sarah answered. "The only thing that's remotely normal in my life now." She felt a little disturbed that Edan wasn't around. She needed to know he was all right.   
  
Then she remembered the other discussion last night had been about Arcturus setting him up for Beth's murder. If Edan disappeared it was going to look like he was guilty.  
  
"Wait a sec, I'm coming with you." Lvana grabbed a denim bag on the kitchen table.   
  
Sarah's eyes rolled. She scowled as she sat in Lvana's car. Was she not going to be able to go anywhere alone? She reached for the seat belt. "Ouch!"  
  
She pulled her hand away. In the centre of her palm was a small gold pin. She hissed in pain as she pulled it out, watching as the blood welled up in the wound.  
  
Lvana handed her a tissue. "You okay?" Lvana asked. Her tone was neutral, like she didn't really care either way.  
  
^No I'm not okay^ Sarah wanted to shriek. ^This fucking hurts!^  
  
"Fine," she answered through gritted teeth. She sat in stubborn silence as Lvana drove them to school.  
  
At school there were news reports and TV crews and cameras everywhere. There were police officers too. It reminded Sarah of the beginning of the move 'Scream' after Drew Barrymore had been gutted.  
  
So much for school being normal.  
  
* * *  
  
Lvana handed Sharon the bloody tissue. The news of Beth's murder was everywhere. Reports grabbed students on the way to classes to get opinions, police were trying to maintain some sort of order. Classes were supposed to be going on, but teachers weren't having much luck in trying to get the students to pay attention.  
  
Arcturus was sauntering down the halls, false condolences on his coldly handsome features, playing the part of the grieved boyfriend very well.  
  
^They only had done date!^ Lvana thought in disgust.  
  
"This is nuts," Sharon muttered. "What the hell is he playing at?"  
  
Lvana shook her head. "No idea. Edan's done a disappearing act."  
  
Sharon smirked. "Doesn't look good for him. Thanks for this." She waved the bloody tissue you.  
  
"What's it for?" Lvana's curiosity was sparked.  
  
"Helenia's being sketchy on the details. Catch you later." Sharon disappeared into the throng of students hanging around the halls.  
  
Lvana shook her head somewhere between disbelief and annoyance.  
  
"This just gets more and more pathetic." Lvana was joined by Shannon on the way to their gym class. She nodded to where Arcturus was being talked to sympathetically by two pretty female police officers.  
  
Lvana nodded, her eyes rolling. "How is he going to get away with this?"  
  
"At least everything went okay." Libby walked into the changing rooms. She'd managed to ditch the crowd that had been following her all day. Libby had lost her best friend after all.  
  
"Since when were you such a bitch anyway?" Shannon chuckled.   
  
Libby smirked. Lvana's eyes rolled.  
  
These idiots thought she was on their side. Yeah, she was neutral, but this whole Edan/Arcturus rival thing was getting out of hands. Beth had been a mean, snotty socialite, but she hadn't deserved to die. Especially not with her best *friend* involved.  
  
On top of *that* she now had to find out more about what Sharon was up to with Helenia wanting Sarah's blood. As she changed for gym she couldn't help thinking it was partly her fault Beth was dead. She was the in between who knew almost all the secrets from both parties.  
  
So what did she do with this information?  
  
* * * 


	18. Part 18

Part 18 Edan knew not showing up at school that day was going to look very ad for him, considering he was in the frame for Beth's murder. He wasn't any happier about leaving not giving Sarah any explanation, particularly after the discovery of their soulmate connection. He sat behind the wheel of his car, stuck in a traffic jam on the highway out of town. He had wanted to stay, wanted to enjoy the soulmate connection. Never in a million years had he expected Cisara to show up, claiming him to a promise he had made centuries ago. And it didn't take a genius to guess if Cisara was in town, then she was going to hook up with the dominant vampire in the town. From what he had seen, his look was worsened, by the fact that happened to be Helenia, another past mistake he was unable to erase. ^Not anymore^ he thought, tapping the steering wheel impatiently. As he did he heard his cell phone beeping. He'd almost forgotten he had one. It wasn't like anyone bothered to call him. He'd just bought one to see what the fascination with them was. The message was from Jora, telling him she was on her way. Yet another face he had never expected to see again. Edan smiled faintly, thinking how *nothing* in this town had happened the way he had expected it to. At least Jora was one of the good guys, and actually on his side. The Daybreakers were still distrusting of him. He hadn't even done anything. "Sometimes bad things happen to good people." "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, almost spinning into another car as he heard the unexpected voice in the passenger seat beside him. "The language you people use today is rather vile," the ghostly figure of Annabelle commented as she shimmered into being, her delicate nose wrinkling. Edan heard an angry horn honking behind him, reminding him he still had to keep his eyes on the road. He started moving again, trying to digest the fact that there was the ghost of a long dead girlfriend in his car. "What are you doing here?" "You left your poor human soulmate at the mercy of Cisara and Helenia. They're working a spell against her." "What kind of spell?" Edan felt like screaming. He couldn't be in three places at once. Sarah was supposed to be being protected by the Daybreakers. "I am not sure. Arcturus is also on the prowl as well. Now that witch is gone, and as soon as he hears of your soulmate - " "You're not telling me anything I don't already know!" he snapped at her angrily. "And if you've got nothing to do but just sit there and state facts, you might as well just go away." There was an awkward silence. Edan wanted to protect Sarah from his past more than anything. She didn't have to suffer because of his own stupidity. Meeting with Jora had been part of a plan to deal with all three of them, Helenia, Cisara and Arcturus once and for all. "I've got everything under control," he told Annabelle. "If you say so. Just remember sometimes even the best ideas are clouded." And she vanished. Edan felt himself releasing a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. He turned off the highway and the next exit, and headed for a gas station, where he parked at a road side diner. Jora was already inside waiting for him. Yes, he was going to make up for his past mistakes, Sarah would be safe from them, no matter what it took. * * * 


	19. Part 19

Part 19  
  
"Soulmate? Are you sure?"  
  
Arcturus stared at Lvana, not sure if he could trust her to tell him the truth. Those who filtered information to both sides were usually the most difficult to decipher. He knew from experience they usually had ulterior motives.  
  
Lvana was a girl he just did not get. She had met him in the cafeteria at lunch, claiming she had new information for him. She didn't seem fussed that her so-called Daybreak friend friends were right across the room from them.  
  
Arcturus stared at the girl called Sarah, who sat with them, still finding it hard to distinguish her from Helenia. She was Edan's *soulmate*? "How the hell did *that* happen?" he demanded, eyes flashing angrily.  
  
Lvana shrugged. "I'm no expert on the whole soulmate thing."  
  
"So what's happened to my pain-in-the-ass brother, then" He hadn't seen Edan around anywhere yet. He was hoping Edan would have known up then be dragged off by the police in front of the entire student body.  
  
"Wasn't around this morning," Lvana answered. "From the looks of it he's skipped town."  
  
"Skipped town?" Arcturus sighed, drumming his fingers on the table top. "Shit."  
  
On the plus side, if the spineless coward had left town then he'd also left his soulmate all alone. So not love at first sight then? Or Edan could have just panicked. Sounded more like something he'd do.  
  
"According to Sharon some vampire called Cisara has shown up and teamed up with Helenia," Lvana told him.  
  
Arcturus searched his memory, but the name meant nothing to him. "Not my problem," was all he said.   
  
So the *real* Helenia was in town, why hadn't she made her move yet? Helenia had a habit of letting people know who she was. Was she deliberately waiting...for what? Of course, she could be waiting to see what he was doing.  
  
"This whole thing is getting extremely complicated," he complained, leaning back in his chair.  
  
"Well, you only have yourself to blame for that. And who was the idiot who made things worse by killing Beth for no reason?" Lvana pointed out with a smirk.  
  
Arcturus glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying particular attention to them, so he let the idiot remark slide. So far no one suspected him of anything, which was what he wanted, but with Edan out of town the rest of that plan didn't really work.  
  
At that moment Sarah looked up and caught him watching her. She turned quickly away. "If you're looking for someone to blame for this mess blame *her*," he said with a scowl.  
  
"I don't get it." Lvana frowned.  
  
Arcturus smirked at her. "You wouldn't." He was already bored of dealing with the cops and students here. As it had turned out, disposing of Beth actually *had* made things worse. So it was a bad plan, but he would only admit that to himself.  
  
Lvana was standing.   
  
"Where are you going?" he asked.  
  
"You have a new plan look," she answered picking up her denim backpack. "I'm getting the hell out of here before this gets even more fucked up."  
  
She turned and walked quickly away before he could stop her.  
  
He noticed Shannon and Damien watching from across the cafeteria. Lvana knew too much. There was no way any true Night Person would let her escape this town alive.  
  
Shannon smiled back at him and nodded. Good. At least she was still on his wavelength. His attention turned back to Sarah. One vulnerable soulmate, and one new plan on his mind.  
  
* * * 


	20. Part 20

Part 20  
  
Was he looking at her again? It seemed that every time Sarah raised her head, Arcturus was looking at her. Maybe she was imagining things. Everything today was so bizarre, with the police hanging around. Questions about Beth were thrown everywhere.  
  
Sarah had kept quiet about her brief conversation with Beth the other day. She thought of the vagueness of her brief conversation with Beth the other day. Something about her destiny coming to town. Her so called *destiny* had freaked and run off!  
  
Along with Beth's destiny talk had come the warning from the ghost against Arcturus. Now though, Arcturus was more appealing to her than ever.  
  
"You okay? You seem a little distracted." Amber and Andreas had been driving her nuts all day. Either one or the other had been with her at almost all times, despite who was in what class with each other. Sarah was not used to people around her all the time.   
  
Sarah shrugged. "With all that's happened can you blame me?"  
  
School was over for the day. Sarah just wanted to go home and hide in her room. But since there was a crazy lady who wanted to make her a blood sucking demon after her she couldn't *do* that. She had to go back to this stupid *safe* house with people she barely knew and didn't like.  
  
If she could only find some way to turn the clock back to three days ago.   
  
Sarah was now even starting to wonder how different her life would be if she had actually accepted Helenia's offer. She would no longer be a weak pushover if she became a vampire. She would become beautiful and powerful. She could have any guy she wanted. She could teach that asshole of a soulmate of hers a lesson for leaving her.  
  
"I guess so," Amber said smiling faintly. "We will deal with this."  
  
"I just want my ordinary life back." Sarah was silent during the drive home. Andreas was already there when they got back. He was standing in the living room doorway, shaking his head.  
  
"Now what?" Sarah snapped. God, what the hell else could happen? She'd had enough drama in three days to last a lifetime. She could write her own *move* based around all of this.  
  
"Lvana's dead." He moved out the way.  
  
"Shit," Amber muttered.  
  
Lying on the floor Lvana stared up at the ceiling. Two tiny puncture wounds could be seen on the site of her neck. Three suitcases were beside her. "Why was she leaving?" Amber asked.  
  
Andreas shook his head. "No idea."  
  
Sarah turned and took the opportunity to sneak out while Amber and Andreas were discussing what to do with the body. Why did they not just call the police like *normal* people.  
  
~Some safe house,~ Sarah thought. Sarah found herself unable to care about Lvana's death at all. Going home, as she had already established, would be a mistake. When Amber and Andreas realised she wasn't there, that was the first place they would probably look.   
  
She decided to try Spectrum, not knowing where else to go. It was a strange bar, open from about two in the afternoon. As she walked into the club, she saw Arcturus sitting at the bar. Two girls were playing a game of pool, and a lone guy sat at a table reading a book. She took the seat beside Arcturus.  
  
He just laughed. "What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
Sarah shrugged. " I'm not sure. I just - "  
  
He reached out and caught her chin, leaned forward and kissed her. Sarah almost pushed him away, then changed her mind and deepened the kiss, letting him in more.  
  
Arcturus smirked in triumph. "Let's get out of here."  
  
* * *  
  
"What's she doing?" Cisara asked, head tilted. She stood in an upstairs room in Helenia's mansion.   
  
Sharon the witch sat in the centre of the room in which the only illumination was the circle of red candles she sat in. The walls were painted black, even the windows were blacked out. Sharon sat in a lotus position with a brass bowl in front of her letting out plumes a purple smoke with a bizarre smell. Her eyes were closed, fluttering as if she were dreaming. Her lips were mouthing words Cisara couldn't quite make out.  
  
"Performing my spell." Helenia stood beside her, watching eagerly.  
  
"Spell to do - " Cisara yawned. Hunger was gnawing at her stomach. The witch was looking very tasty right now.  
  
"What we talked about earlier." Helenia's eyes rolled. "Get with the programme."  
  
"Oh, right." Cisara's arms folded, waiting to see what would happen.  
  
* * *  
  
Sarah woke to find Arcturus gone. She got up and dressed, barely aware of what he was doing. She felt like she was being toyed like a puppet but had no idea who was controlling the strings.  
  
* * * 


	21. Part 21

Part 21  
  
Jora had known something was going to go wrong. She had agreed to meet with Edan, already knowing what he was going to ask her.   
  
"Oh come on. You can make one exception, can't you?" he had insisted.  
  
Jora had tried to explain to Edan the point of Circle Daybreak was to stop the violence between the species and get those opposed to follow. Edan would have none of it. He insisted his jerk of a brother would never change, and in all honesty, Jora had to admit, she agreed with him. Besides, if she took care of Arcturus for Edan, it saved him having to get a vampire hunter and making an already complicated situation more confusing.  
  
Jora eyed Arcturus in disgust. A witch-friend of hers had performed a location spell. Hadn't been hard for them to find him, Arcturus was never one for hiding. He enjoyed standing a cut above the normal people.  
  
When she had got to his apartment she found him looking at his unmade bed in confusion. He had been calling out for Sarah. Sarah, if Jora remembered correctly, was the name of Edan's soulmate. He hadn't been too pleased to see Jora.  
  
"Crap, you," were he exact words. He glared at her annoyance clear on his coldly handsome features. "What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"Supposed to be killing you," Jora answered, not moving from the bedroom door, nor removing any of her hidden weapons. She had no idea where Edan had gone, but if Arcturus had done something to Sarah she felt like she should find the girl before Edan got more pissed off and did something stupid.  
  
"What did you do to Sarah?" she demanded.  
  
"Nothing. Fucked her brains out." He paused, smirking. "Twice. Hey she came to *me*," he added at the look on Jora's face. "Now she's gone."  
  
Jora shook her head. She had known something would go wrong. "Where?"  
  
"Didn't say. Am I supposed to care?" Arcturus reached for a shirt.  
  
Jora reached inside her jacket for one of her stakes. Moving silently she approached him.  
  
"You really think you can take me by sneaking up on me?" Arcturus finished buttoning his shirt, glancing at her with disdain.  
  
Jora shrugged. "Probably not." She looked around, disliking the contained space of the bedroom. Certainly not the ideal place for a fight. But it would have to do. He just stood there smirking at her. She despised that arrogant smile, that air of overconfidence that said he knew he was definitely going to win.   
  
Take definitely out of the equation and she'd be happy. Well, Arcturus dead and she'd be happy.   
  
He spread his arms wide, exposing his chest, giving her a clear shot at his heart. "Come on then," he taunted. "Stake me."  
  
Jora shrugged, and moved out of the doorway. Arcturus cried out as the steak from the crossbow slammed into his heart, Jora turned, smiling at her friend Connie who had been behind her. The unexpected entrance had caught Arcturus off guard. The arrogant son of a bitch was now nothing more than a mummified corpse.  
  
"And to think I was looking forward to a good ass kicking," Connie quipped. Connie was the witch who had helped her find Arcturus.  
  
"Getting my ass kicked wasn't on my to-do list today," Jora replied smiling. "Sorry to disappoint you."  
  
"What now?" Connie asked.  
  
"Something's happened to Sarah. I don't know where Edan went."  
  
"Didn't he say this all had something to do with your old friend Helenia?" Connie pointed out.  
  
Jora frowned. Helenia was the last person she wanted to see right now. Or ever again, for that matter. But yes, she did recall him mentioning he had to stop her. She had left Helenia before Edan had so she didn't know exactly what had happened to end the relationship, only that it had something to do with a girl called Annabelle who had wound up dead.  
  
"So we've got an old powerful vampire to deal with, Edan's disappeared again and so has his soulmate," Connie said with a sigh. "So again, what now?"  
  
"Good question," Jora sighed. "Well, Edan can handle himself."  
  
"So let's find the human girl. She'll be the easier target."   
  
Jora nodded. "If she's not already dead."  
  
* * * 


	22. Part 22

Part 22  
  
It was the most bizarre feeling she had ever experienced. Sarah had thought the soulmate thing was weird enough, but nothing compared to having no control over her own body - she just couldn't find any words.  
  
She struggled, fought against herself, but her legs just kept on moving of their own accord. Tears ran down her cheeks as she walked on and on. She had come to the wealthy neighbourhood of the tow, an area she had only seen from a distance. How could this be *happening* to her?  
  
Where the hell was she *going*?  
  
* * *  
  
"Where's Sarah?" Amber had been through the safehouse twice but could see no signs of Sarah. She and Andreas had spent the last half an hour arguing over what to do about Lvana's body.  
  
Lvana wasn't anywhere near as important or popular as Beth had been, but the unexplained death would bring unwanted attention to the Daybreak house. Lvana had no living family that they knew of, so it had been decided the body would go back to Daybreak headquarters and be buried in a near by cemetery. Amber would use her magic to brainwash anyone who asked into thinking that Lvana had run away. Some Daybreakers would be there to collect Lvana tomorrow.  
  
Andreas shook his head. "Isn't she upstairs?"  
  
"No. I haven't seen her. She's not in the house."  
  
Andreas frowned. "She's not answering me."  
  
Amber stared at him blankly for a moment, then remembered that vampires could talk telepathically. "Try Edan," she suggested.  
  
Andreas scowled. "We'll find Sarah ourselves. He'll just make things more complicated."  
  
Amber sighed, hating to admit that maybe Andreas did have a point there. The question now, was where did they start looking? She scowled at the phone as it began to ring. "Now what?" she grumbled.  
  
Andreas took the call in the other room. She paced around, trying to think. She knew Sarah had been having a hard time dealing with the whole Night World thing. Being attacked by psycho vampire ladies weren't a normal part of Sarah's life.  
  
"That was a friend of Edan's," Andreas told her, coming back into the room. "Apparently he hired her to kill that moron brother of his. Good news is the bastard's dead. Bad news is apparently Sarah was there moments before she arrived."  
  
Amber blinked. "Sarah was with Arcturus?"  
  
"So it seems. Now she's gone. The friend, Jora seems to think Helenia is involved."  
  
"What's Edan doing?"  
  
"God knows. But she's going to beet us at Helenia's place."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Whatever's going on with Sarah and Edan is all related to that bitch. So it looks like this whole saga is going to play out there. So let's get there and end this thing." He grabbed his jacket and car keys. He strode off, but as he passed by her, Amber noticed the satisfied smirk on his face.  
  
With a sigh, she followed, not exactly sure what was going to happen, or if they could even be of any use.  
  
* * * 


	23. Part 23

Part 23  
  
Edan smirked, pleased to hear that at least part of his plan had gone well. Jora had just rung to tell him Arcturus was dead. Good. At least he was out of the way. That just left Cisara to take care of. And Helenia too, while he was at it.   
  
He sat outside Helenia's mansion, hidden in the shrubbery and plants. Not exactly the most original hiding place, Edan knew. He had no definite plan of attack yet, and knew from experience that charging in blind was never a good idea when usually something always went wrong. Plus he didn't know exactly who else besides Helenia and Cisara were in the mansion. He knew Helenia would have at least one witch - she always employed a witch, along with a werewolf or some sort of shapeshifter for a bodyguard.   
  
^Should have put more thought into this^ he mused, shifting uncomfortably. Now the drapes had been closed covering the downstairs windows, and he couldn't see a damn thing. How the hell was he supposed to know what was going on inside the mansion. He didn't have x-ray vision or a crystal ball.  
  
//Some plan. God, you really are an idiot// The sneering mental voice made Edan turn sharply, ready to attack. Only to find himself facing Andreas standing behind him smirking smugly. Jora and Amber were with him.  
  
Edan scowled, arms folding in annoyance. //What the hell are you guys doing here?// he demanded angrily, speaking to both Jora and Andreas, glaring furiously.   
  
"We figured you were going to do something stupid so we here to make sure no more dead bodies turn up," Amber said in a hushed whisper.  
  
As a witch, she couldn't hear vampiric telepathy. She could probably guess what they were saying from the expressions on their faces. Edan sighed, almost feeling like stamping his foot like a petulant, pissed off child would. This whole damn mess was none of their business. Except maybe Jora. Amber and Andreas were just going to get in the way. He knew they weren't likely to go away because he told them to go and let him deal with his problem. So it looked like he was stuck with them.  
  
"Okay, so you're not going anywhere, whatever. Cisara and Helenia are mine. Anyone else is up for grabs."  
  
"So we're just going to charge in?" Andreas shook his head. "Bad plan. Usually goes wrong."  
  
It was taking every ounce of Edan's self control not to punch him. He already knew that. "If you have a better suggestion then I'd like to hear it," he snapped.  
  
His patience was running out. His luck had been practically none existent since he'd arrived in this stupid town. Maybe this time, despite how bad the odds were, just maybe, he could pull something off to work in his favour for once.   
  
"You people want to explain what the hell you people are *doing* out here?"  
  
^Or maybe not^ Edan thought, cursing mentally.  
  
"*Sharon*?" Amber was staring in disbelief out a pretty dark haired girl who stood on the back porch of the mansion. She waved a hand and black clad figures emerged from the shadows around them.  
  
"What's going on?" Edan asked, confused. He vaguely remembered Sharon as the girl who had helped him sign in the office when he'd first arrived.  
  
"Apparently Sharon has been spying on us all along," Andreas said, shaking his head.  
  
Edan groaned out loud, feeling like charging into the crowd and kicking some ass. The smarter part of him constantly bugged a reminder that that would be a total disaster. He followed the rest of the group into the mansion's living room.  
  
"*Sarah?*"  
  
Edan stared in disbelief at the sight of his soulmate stood by the window, staring straight ahead, a blank expression on her pretty features. "Sarah!" he called out.  
  
Sarah didn't move. She didn't even blink. He started to move towards her, but two of the black clad figures stopped him. He fought, kicking angrily, straining against the unnaturally strong grips on his arms until a blast of witch magic struck him painfully in the back, sending him to his knees, wincing in agony.  
  
"Sarah," he whispered weekly.   
  
"Don't bother, she won't respond."  
  
Edan looked up, but was too weak to react as Cisara walked into the room in a confident strut smirking.  
  
"What have you done to her?" Andreas demanded, but didn't make an aggressive move.  
  
"She's completely under our control," Cisara said. She walked over to Edan, kneeling in front of him, her heels clicking on the polished hardwood floor and caught his chin in her sharp nails incongruously painted sky-blue in a complete contrast to her cerise coloured off-the-shoulder dress and matching shoes.  
  
Edan glared at her, eyes blaring with hatred. The blast of witch fire had knocked a lot out of him, having caught him off guard. He could do nothing but glare.   
  
"I was going to send my boys in black to collect you, but you came all by yourself," Cisara went on in an annoying conversational tone.   
  
"Cut the bullshit," Edan hissed. "What's this all about?"  
  
"A long time ago you and I made a deal," she said softly. "I intend to hold you to your word."  
  
"What about Sarah?"  
  
She smiled, almost angelically. "That depends."  
  
Edan frowned. "On what?"  
  
Cisara chuckled. "What do you think? On you of course."  
  
* * * 


	24. Part 24

Part 24  
  
"I'm bored," Helenia complained. She sat on a couch in her living room, after watching her workers bringing in the intruders. Most attention was focused on the drama between Edan and Cisara. Her mind was wandering. Edan hadn't even acknowledged her presence yet. Neither had anyone else for that matter.  
  
"So go find something to do," Cisara snapped, without removing her eyes from Edan. "You've got a vampire and another witch here - do something with *them*."  
  
At that moment a blast of witch-fire struck Helenia in the stomach. She cried out in a startled mixture of pain and confusion, and the room descended into chaos.  
  
* * *  
  
Unfortunately, Helenia's goons were better trained than Andreas had anticipated. He grunted angrily as a foot snapped in his face, sending him flying backwards into a Chinese vase. The problem with the figures all in black was there was no way to tell *what* species they were. His senses were focused on staying alive rather than wasting time identifying who was behind the masks.   
  
//Great plan// he snapped telepathically to Amber, in her own witch-fire vs. witch-fire battle with Sharon. //What the hell were you thinking?//  
  
Amber didn't answer, didn't even glance in Andreas's direction. He didn't have time to get mad at her as another black clad figure was coming his way.  
  
* * *  
  
Not again. This awful paralysis was holding Sarah prisoner, unable to help in the action-movie battle taking place before her very eyes. Weird glowy lights were coming from the hands of Amber and Sharon, attacking each other mid-air, neither seemed to be on the verge of winning. Andreas was taking on most of the black clad figures with some fancy martial arts stuff.  
  
The girl in the pink dress was leading Edan out the room. The crazy vampire lady who'd attacked her in the first place was lying on the couch, clutching her stomach and groaning.  
  
~Help me~ she thought, tears of frustration streaming down her cheeks at her own patheticness more than anything else.  
  
"Sarah!"  
  
She could hear Edan calling to her as he was being lead away. //I love you. I'm sorry.//  
  
Love me? You don't even know me// Sarah thought.  
  
//Whatever. You're still my soulmate.// It was Edan's voice again.  
  
Sarah recalled the night before, when they had discovered the soulmate connection, recalling it allowed them directly to link to each other's minds and read the other person's thoughts as clearly as if they were your own. Edan had freaked and disappeared for the better part of two days, and she...Sarah winced, remembering she had slept with that Arcturus moron. She vaguely wondered why he wasn't here and didn't have something to do with this. Then this paralysis had taken her and brought her here...and now this.  
  
It was hard to believe all this had happened in just a day. No...her mind was wandering. There was a point here...something that could help her...something...what had brought her down this road of thought?  
  
Soulmate! Yes, the soulmate thing she had discovered with Edan. As she spoke to Edan through like that, through the weird thought-reading thing, looking down at her hands, to her amazement, she found she could actually *move* her fingers, just a little.  
  
It was an incredible strain and painful in a way she couldn't begin to describe. But Sarah didn't care. She could *move*.  
  
//Edan, where are you? Talk to me! Where's she taking you?// She didn't know *how* to work the mind reading thing, and truth be told wasn't really confident enough to really want to see into a vampire's mind, soulmate or not, just yet. But she could work the mind-talking. And as she tried to call to him, the more her hand lifted.  
  
The more she focused on that soulmate link, on getting to Edan, she found she could move more and more. Edan, however, was not answering her calls. ~Come on you stupid soulmate thing~ she thought angrily. However - whatever - mystical power it was that connected her to Edan would free her so she could save him.  
  
All the while she was thinking, she concentrated on moving. Slowly and excruciatingly, but soon she was on her feet. Looking around the room she saw most of the black clad figures were down. Sharon looked briefly her way. "Hey! That's impossible! You shouldn't be - "  
  
Her momentary lapse of concentration allowed a blast of Amber's magic to hit her directly in the face, knocking her out. The last of the goons were down, the ones that weren't had fled.  
  
"Are you okay?" Andreas asked, hurrying to Sarah's side.  
  
Sarah nodded. "I think so." Her muscles were tingling, but now Sharon was out cold, she could move freely. "How come Arcturus isn't enjoying this?" she asked dryly.  
  
"Because he's dead," Amber answered. "A vampire hunter got him."  
  
Sarah felt nothing. Only guilt at being stupid enough to sleep with him. Anyway, she couldn't think about that now. "Do you really kill a vampire with a stake?" she asked then, nodding at Helenia still moaning and groaning. What the hell was she *doing*? Why wasn't she getting up and fighting them? Most of this was all her damn fault!  
  
Amber nodded, handing Sarah a stake from inside the sleeve of her jacket. Sarah took it, smirked, and thrust it into Helenia's arched back, directly into her heart.  
  
Helenia's face contorted in pain. Her skin began to wither and stretch over her bones. Before long she had collapsed into an ugly, unfashionable dead mummified heap.  
  
Sarah spat on the corpse. "Crazy bitch," she muttered. Then she turned to Amber and Andreas. "He may be a pain in the ass, but I want my soulmate back."  
  
* * * 


	25. Part 25

Part 25  
  
Amber nodded. "That's pretty much a given," she said with a smile. "But where did he and Cisara go?"  
  
"He can't have been *that* badly hurt if he was on his feet," Andreas pointed out."  
  
Sarah didn't like the tone of obvious disgust in his voice. "No one asked you to come," she snapped. "If you don't like Edan, then why are you here at all? Being an asshole isn't going to help anyone."  
  
Andreas shrugged. "Because I'm a Daybreaker, and the mission matters more than my personal feelings." He made a face Sarah couldn't really understand. "Particularly when soulmates are involved."  
  
Sarah didn't get it, but wasn't going to complain. She may not like him either, but his fighting skills might come in handy some time in the near future.  
  
"You used your soulmate connection to break the control spell to get to Edan," Amber cut in, looking over at Sarah.  
  
Sarah nodded. "He hasn't been answering me."  
  
//Edan?// she called again through the soulmate link. //Answer me dumbass//.  
  
She waited, but no reply came. She shrugged helplessly. Amber left the room, Andreas shrugged too. He didn't know what Amber was doing either. About five minutes later Amber came back with a crystal on a silver chain, and a map of the area.  
  
* * *  
  
He could hear Sarah's mental call through the soulmate link. Edan wanted to answer her, but couldn't. His plan wouldn't work if Cisara got a clue as to what was going on. He sat beside her in her limo. She was more than happy to leave Helenia to deal with the Daybreakers and escape with her trophy.  
  
"It's not like you and that human could have had any sort of relationship, anyway," she had an arm around her shoulders, held him close to her while sipping a martini. "If you really were a Daybreak person, you'd be with them already."  
  
Edan grunted and just shrugged carelessly.   
  
"You'll like Paris," she went on as the limo pulled up at an airfield where a private jet was waiting. Another long black limo was waiting there too.  
  
Edan smiled mirthlessly. "I've been to Paris. Totally overrated."  
  
Cisara stared at him as if he were crazy. She shook her head in bemusement. "So uncultured. Whatever. We're going, end of story."  
  
The driver opened the door for them. Edan got out first, offering his hand to Cisara. The door of the other limo was opening.  
  
"Going somewhere?"  
  
The voice was not Jora's, as Edan had expected, but a beautiful girl with long black hair, dressed in a ninja outfit, holding a crossbow, trained on Cisara.  
  
Cisara blinked, so did Edan.   
  
"Huh?" Cisara scowled, her moth opened, but closing again as more people emerged from the shadows around them, most with crossbows. Jora was one of them, nodding her thanks to the ninja girl. "Thanks Rashel."  
  
The girl called Rashel smiled. "Any time."  
  
Edan heard tyres screeching as a third car came to an abrupt halt close to where Cisara's limo had stopped. Edan's expression of confusion turned into a huge grin as Sarah got out. A smile lit up her face as she saw him. He reached out for her, sweeping her into a deep and passionate kiss. The magic of their soulmate connection sparkled and fizzed, filling them with warmth and light.  
  
They clung to each other tightly. No words were spoken, but as they watched Rashel, Jora and the other Circle Daybreak people lead Cisara away, they both knew all the drama, stress and heartache, had been worth it now they were together.  
  
THE END. 


End file.
